Batch 022: Apricot and Blackberry Chai Meads

Since batch 010 turned out to be so popular, we're scaling up the recipe to five gallons and tweaking it. We're intentionally shorting the initial amount of honey with the intention to add some apricot puree once fermentation dies down. This recipe is going to be called California Hippie Chai Mead.

Brew date: 16 September 2016.

Ingredients in this batch

• 3 lb. Trader Joe's Mostly Mesquite Honey.
• 3 lb. orange blossom honey from Torn & Glasser.
• 3 lb. wildflower honey from Queen Bee Apiaries.
• 2 tsp. of Valley Brewers yeast nutrient.
• 2 tsp. of Valley Brewers yeast energizer.
• 5 gallons of distilled water, left in the sun in a carboy for ten days with 20 teabags of Twinings Black Chai tea soaking in it.
• 1 packet White Labs WLP 008 East Coast Ale Yeast.
• 8 oz. Kirkland clover honey, added to a yeast starter on 9 Oct 2016.
• 1 qt. filtered Goleta tap water, added to the yeast starter on 9 Oct 2016.
• ¼ tsp Valley Brewers yeast nutrient, added to the yeast starter on 9 Oct 2016.
• ⅒ tsp Valley Brewers yeast energizer, added to the yeast starter on 9 Oct 2016.
• 1 packet (5 g.) of Lalvin K1V-1116 yeast, added to the yeast starter on 9 Oct. 2016, after being rehydrated in:
  • approx. ⅙ cup boiling wort from batch 027, which Xenia is currently brewing, cooled to 78°F.
• 4 oz. Kirkland clover honey, added to the yeast starter on 10 Oct 2016.
• 1 qt. boiled, then cooled, Goleta tap water, added to the yeast starter on 10 Oct 2016.
• 3 lb. 1 oz. Vintner's Harvest apricot puree, added to batch 022A on 11 Oct 2016.
• 2 lb. 12 oz. frozen organic blackberries, added to batch 022B on 11 Oct 2016.
• 1 tsp. LD Carlson pectic enzyme, added to batch 022A on 3 November 2016.
• 3 tsp. LD Carlson pectic enzyme, added to batch 022B on 3 November 2016.
• 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar, added to batch 022C at bottling, on 9 January 2017.
• 45 g. black chai tea from Plank Coffee and Tea, Cloverdale, California (that's the last of the tea we used from batch 010), added to batch 022D on 8 January 2017.

Yield: (for all sub-batches) about 5¼ gallons.

Left the tea soaking in the distilled water outside on our deck in a carboy for nine days. Poured about two gallons into our large pot, then heated it to 145℉. Poured in the honey, stirring, and kept it between 145 and 160℉ for twenty-five minutes to perform low-heat sanitization, stirring regularly. Poured the rest of the chai tea into a sanitized brewing bucket, then poured the chai must into the bucket was sanitization was complete. Added in yeast energizer and yeast nutrient, then agitated the must with the large plastic stirring spoon to oxygenate it. Chilled it with the immersion chiller, then agitated again for another five minutes to make sure it had dissolved oxygen. Pitched the yeast when the temperature had come down to 81℉, then closed the bucket and filled the fermentation lock.

Original gravity: 1.059.

Restarting fermentation

Looks like I've successfully restarted fermentation in those two fruit-chai meads.

A video posted by Patrick Mooney (@patrickbrianmooney) on Oct 12, 2016 at 3:45pm PDT

Since the fermentation seems to have stalled, and my theory is that I under-oxygenated the must before pitching the yeast, I'm going to make a starter in the hopes of jump-starting fermentation again. Of course, I'm going to re-oxygenate before re-pitching the yeast, too. And I'm going to put in more sugars for the yeast in the starter to eat once they get in there. And I'm going to go ahead and add in the fruit that I would have added after primary finished. Picking Lalvin K1V-1116 because of its reputation for being able to outcompete other bugs in the must. (I don't really have any reason to suspect infection, but if I'm already adding enough extra sugar to kick it up to adding a wine yeast, I may as well pick the wine yeast that could conceivably fix an additional problem, if there is one.) 1116 has also the advantage of having finished another brew quickly for us in the past, which is a nice additional feature.

All in all, I guess this all winds up being a moderate reconceptualization of the recipe, but I think it will turn out nicely in the end.

On Oct. 9, I prepared a starter in a sanitized one-gallon glass carboy with 8 oz. of generic honey in one quart of filtered tap water, along with small amounts (though more than would be required proportionally for this amount of must) of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. Aerated the starter must by shaking vigorously for five minutes. Meanwhile, rehydrated the Lalvin K1V-1116 in approximately one-sixth cup of cooled wort extracted from the boil of batch 027, which Xenia was currently brewing. Once the starter must had been aerated, the rehydrated yeast was pitched into the carboy and a fermentation lock was popped in. By the morning, the starter was discharging carbon dioxide.

Later that evening, added another 4 oz. of the same honey and a quart of boiled, then cooled, Goleta tap water. Re-aerated the larger-volume must by shaking vigorously for three minutes, then popped the fermentation lock back in.

Two Fruit Additions

On 11 Oct., pitched the yeast starter into the bucket, stirred vigorously for five minutes to re-oxygenate the mead, and split the batch into two unequal batches: a five-gallon batch of apricot chai mead, and a one-gallon batch of blackberry chai mead. Both restarted fermentation within twelve hours.

Batch 022A: The Deceased Mr. Apricot

Batch 022A is an approximately-five-gallon batch from which two sub-batches (022C and 022D) have been pulled off (as described below) before 022A was bottled; creating this involved taking the base mead involved pouring the apricot puree into a sanitized carboy, then racking something over four gallons of base chai mead + starter onto the apricot puree. (In fact, the amount of mead racked onto the puree was what was left over from batch 022B, which was prepared first.) Popped a fermentation lock into the carboy and let it continue fermenting.

Bottled on 8 Jan 2016, splitting it into three batches: this one (22A, The Deceased Mr. Apricot); a carbonated version (22C because the blackberry chai has already been bottled using the batch number 022B, Mr. Apricot); and a version with more chai tea infused (22D, not yet named). The Mr. Apricot names come, of course, from a Monty Python skit.

Bottling date: 8 January 2017
Final gravity: 0.997
Estimated ABV: 8.5%

Yield:

• 6 x 750 mL. wine bottles
• 6 x 12 oz. beer bottles
• 2 x 22 oz. beer bottles
• 1 x 375 mL wine bottle
• 1 x hydrometer tube

Total: 286  fl. oz., or about 2¼ gallon.

Batch 022C: Mr. Apricot

Batch 022C is one gallon pulled off from batch 022A and carbonated by adding 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar. Like batch 022A, it's a gorgeous light orange color that's not quite attributable just to the honey.

Bottling date: 8 January 2017
Final gravity: 0.997
Estimated ABV: 8.5%

Yield:

• 2 x 22 oz. beer bottles
• 1 x 750 mL. beer bottle
• 1 x 500 mL beer bottle
• 3 x 12 oz. beer bottles

Total: approx. 122¼ fl. oz., or about 95% of a gallon.

Batch 022D: Mr. Harrison

Batch 022D is a gallon and a half pulled off from batch 022A with more chai added: it was put into three half-gallon beer growlers on 8 January 2017, each of which had an additional 15 grams of black Chai tea in a brewing sock. That tea steeped for two weeks before bottling.

Bottling date: 22 January 2017
Final gravity: assumed 0.997, like the other batches
Estimated ABV: 8.5%

Yield:

• 3 x 22 oz. beer bottles
• 1 x 750 mL. beer bottle
• 1 x 500 mL beer bottle
• 5 x 12 oz. beer bottles

Total: approx. 167¼ fl. oz., or about 1⅓ gallons.

Batch 022B: Blackberry Chai Mead

Batch 022B involved putting not quite three pounds of frozen blackberries into a one-gallon carboy, then racking nearly a gallon of the base chai mead + starter on top of it. Popped in a fermentation lock and filled it to the line with vodka, then labeled the bottle.

Estimating, using the mead calculator, that, for this sub-batch, the ABV should be calculated based on an assumed as if original gravity of 1.089 due to the additional honey in the starter and the sugar in the blackberries.

Bottling date: 5 December 2016
Final gravity: 1.000
Estimated ABV: approx. 12%

Yield:

• 8 x 12 oz. bottles

Total: 96 fl. oz., or ¾ gallon.